Ting and Burton Richter were co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1976 for their pioneering work “in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle of a new kind.” Ting is the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Physics at MIT in Cambridge.

While in Honolulu, he will meet with UH Mānoa Physics faculty to discuss the creation of a data center in Hawai‘i for his Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment, which will be launched in February 2011 on the last mission of the Shuttle Program and set up on the International Space Station.

Commencement exercises are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., with the student processional into the Stan Sheriff Center to begin at 8:30 a.m. Doors to the Stan Sheriff Center will open at 7:45 a.m.

Nearly 1,100 students are eligible to receive degrees and certificates to conclude the Fall academic term. Just over 800 students will receive bachelor’s degrees, and more than 300 will receive master’s and doctorate degrees, and post-baccalaureate certificates in secondary education.